Romaine Washington

Romaine Washington (she/her) has presented her poetry on NPR, WeHo Reads, and Beyond Baroque, as well as countless other venues. She is a graduate fellow of The Watering Hole Retreat in South Carolina and a fellow of the Inland Area Writing Project at the University of California, Riverside. She continues to grow in craft by attending and participating in local workshops and through Pacific University. Her poetry appears in two collections: "Sirens in Her Belly" (2015) and "Purgatory Has an Address" (2021). As an Inland Empire native, she is currently writing for and helping create an anthology on San Bernardino's Black history. 

Washington served as a San Bernardino County Coordinator for Poetry Out Loud and as a state and local judge (2022-2026).  She holds a master's degree in Education with a cleared California teaching credential in French and English. For 22 years, Washington taught Language Arts in accredited secondary schools, including teaching Advanced Placement (AP) Literature and AP Language and Composition. She also developed and taught a Film as Literary Analysis curriculum that her district adopted. Beyond her teaching career, she has actively participated in readings and led evening writing workshops for Inlandia Institute for over seven years.

Romaine Washington has edited two anthologies, "These Black Bodies Are... A Blacklandia Anthology" (2023) and "88 Unashamed Black Mental Health Stories" (2026), both published by Inlandia. She hosted a series of readings to promote the works, featuring a wide, layered range of skills and voices. The most recent collection was inspired by her late-in-life diagnosis of neurodivergence and her desire to help break the stigma of talking about mental health in the Black community.  As an active member of Blacklandia, she has played an instrumental role in panel talks and presentations. She has also served as a guest editor for the literary journal "Cholla Needles." To find out more, visit her website at www.romainewashington.com.